What to do when you have an anxiety attack?

Question

Hi,
I think I had an anxiety attack last week. I am not sure if it's possible for a guy or not. But I basically broke down in tears on the phone with a friend. I wasn't even calling to talk about that. It was to talk about other stuff. The problem is, I really like her more than a friend and am not sure if I would have lost her respect or anything. What should I do?

She was feeling guilty about some stuff I volunteered to help here with, but I told her it wasn't her fault. I also told her why I basically broke down, was that smart or not? Advice much appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi, well it's great that your being honest with her and you shouldn't feel bad about that. Sure men have anxiety attacks to, I get them myself but when I have them I get like pain in my chest and stuff and what I do is just try and calm myself down and take deep slow breathes. Do something that you find very relaxing but don't just sit there and not do anything about it when it happens because then you will end up from anxiety to panic attack, so when you feel your having an anxiety attack just try and calm yourself down and keep your mind positive it will be gone in no time at all and then you can carry on with what you were doing.

It's also cool for men to cry to ya know we all have feelings and I'm sure that your friend is very caring and understanding, that's awesome that you can talk to someone about how your feeling cause if you leave things inside you will only become numb.

Take care.

Answer 2

Same thing more or less happened to me last October. I felt that "Doom" & nothing could make me at ease. I found that it was something that effected me a long time ago & for whatever reason it came back in my mind. I went to my GP and was perscribed Cipramil & went to have counciling. Both of these combined helped alot. What i only found out recentily was that if you drink alot of alcohol it effects you really badly. I was at a party on Saturday night and on Sunday i thought i was going to die (not with a hangover) & this continued up till yesterday!! I will not be drinking alcohol anymore.... well maybe not as much!! Go see your GP, anxiety is very treatable it might take a while but it will ease & you will learn how to get ride of that feeling of panic before it comes to a peak. I hate the feeling so much, its mentally draining. It is also so common you would'nt believe, just say it to some of your friends & you will be amazed of so many of them having experienced the same as you at some time or other. Good luck & keep possitive.

Answer 3

Hi,
firstly I am not a Dr. but I do not think you had an anxiety attack. I myself have had them, also known as panic attacks. With me my symptoms were, racing heart beat, raised and eratic blood preasure, nausia feeling but not actually vomitting, a tightness in my chest, feeling dissey. At the time I seriously thought I was having a heart attack, its a horrible feeling because your coming out of it you feel really could and shivery one minute and hot and clamy the next. I think there can be a lot of reasons to triger an anxiety attack off but it is usually a sign of stress from one thing or another. My attack was due to work related stress and I am now on Effexor which is helping. Although this type of medication is widely known as Anti-depressents I think this is a very poor name for them as I do not feel depressed at all. All stress is, is a build up of naturally occurring chemicals in the body over time, which do not get released through physical activety. These chemicals are the by product of adrenalin being released into the body which gives you the energy to deal with work or situations but in modern day living we often do not need physical activety to use the adrenalin, thus the buld up of these bad chemicals. Quite often regular excercise releases endorphins which get rid of these harmful chemicals making you feel better. It all goes back to prehistoric times when we had to flee or fight or hunt to catch food and the body needed adrenalin to operate better ie made us faster and stronger.

Answer 4

Either a man or woman can have an anxiety attack, I sympathize with you if that is in fact what you had. Try taking a slow breath in, holding it for 5 seconds then breathe slowly out. Repeat until the feeling of anxiety goes away. Repeat this simple exercise whenever it occurs, eventually it will become second nature, and then you should have no more trouble with it.

Answer 5

Um, I'm going to tell you how to handle an anxiety attack. I used to smoke pot for a long time, and learned how to handle the negative effect of the drug that sometimes comes with it.

It involves breathing, rythymically you have to count every breath and do it deeply. Clear your head, and shut out everything else. Then say these words "I'm o.k, you're o.k, and life is beautiful." This could work. I used to have trouble breathing, my mind clouded up, and I used to shake.

I'm better now, and off drugs too.

Answer 6

i have had anxiety attacks and they feel horrible!! it makes you feel tight in your chest almost like u are having a heart attack and then u feel nauseaus and headachy ...that is how i felt and when i went to the ER they gave me something for the nausea and to relax and it helped. but also remember that anxiety goes hand in hand with depression. trust me i have had bouts of anxiety mixed with depression...especially after my little girl she was 8 died from cancer last yr and i was pregnant with my son so it escalated it. i would go to your doc and have them test u for depression/anxiety and see if u can get xanax and paxil or prozac or effexor. the efecxor workd for me on the depression. hope this helps. try not to drink too much caffeinated beverages too...do u like tea? i found that camomile tea with honey did help somewhat~

Answer 7

You are human so don't worry about it. Women do appreciate honest men and we don't mind if they cry. I would also talk to her about how you feel about her.

Answer 8

Why is this in the Marriage & Divorce catagory, is there more to the story that your not telling ?

Answer 9

Guys are human...they too can break down.Go to her,tell her you like her and be strong enough to accept BOTH ...her NO or her YES

Answer 10

take a xanax. works wonders, but then again, that's what it is used for.